Dental tray



` July 17, 1923. 51.','461365 H. E. WEBER DENTAL TRAY Filed May ll, 1921 MV L Patented duly l?, i923? artist HENRY- E. WEBER, OF CANTON, OHIO.

DENTAL TRAY.

Application firmly in place without the use of locks or` latches.

Dental trays are frequently made round in form of fragile material with a shallow curved rim provided with grooves for receiving the stems or handles of instruments, and it is common practice to support the same upon brackets having a central pivotal stern with radial arms engaging the rim of the tray, with a latch on one of the arms for locking the tray in position.

lt is also common practice for a dentist to use two or more trays, each carrying a set of instruments so that one set-may4 be sterilized while another set is being used, and in such event the removal and replacenient of a tray is of frequent occurrence and the opening and closing of a locking latch not only consumes time and attention, but unless its clamping action is carefully controlled, it is sometimes injurious to and may be destructive 0f the tray.

These diiliculties are overcome in the present improvement by forming upwardly curved radial seats at the ends of the arms for supporting and surrounding the rim portion of the tray, and by providing the same with resilient radial ribs for cushioning and clamping the curved rim portion of the tray and holding it firmly in position thereon, while permittingl a ready removal therefrom.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof in which- Figure l is a plan view of a bracket, showing the tray thereon in broken lines;

Fig. 2, an elevation section of the same on line 2-2, Fig. l; and

Fig. 3, an enlarged section of the rim of ined May ii,

which is suspended freely above the concave .form of upwardly'curved rubber strips or 19er. serieu no. 468,610.

the tray on the same line, showing a side elevation of the supporting end of an arm.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The supporting bracket l may be provided with an axial pivot stein 2 journalled in a conical bearing 3 on the free end of 60 a swinging arm 4 journalled at its other end in the bearing 5 on the free end of a supporting arm 6, in well known manner.

The radial arms 7 of the bracket are inclined slightly upward toward their outer ends 8, which ends are curved upwardly to form arcuate seats 9 for supporting and surrounding the correspondingly curved rim portion l() of the tray 11, the bottom of intermediate portions of the supporting bracket.

Resilient radialribs l2 are provided in the arcuate seats and are preferably in the plates partially countersunk in corresponding radial slots 13 provided in the arcuate seats at the ends of the arms; and a substantial edge portion of each rib protrudes from the arcuate seat so as to bear and clamp around the rim portion of the tray, as shown in Fig. 2.

lt is preferred to provide some siX or more radial arms in the supporting bracket so as to firmly sustain the tray and prevent a tilting thereof; and it is evident that the periphery ef the rim portion of t-he tray will not only be cushioned and clamped by the radial ribs, but that the weight of the tray will so compress the contiguous portions of the ribs that the upper ends 14 thereof will clamp around the upper edge l5 of the rim of the tray and hold it firmly in position, unless it is bodily lifted therefrom; the ends of the arcuate seats and resilient ribs being preferably extended above the edge of the riin, as shown in the drawings, to effect this clamping action.

A bracket for` dental trays and the like, m0 having a plurality of upwardly curved radial resilient ribs partially countersunk in the bracket for bearing and clamping around' the rim portion of the tray.

HENRY E. WEEE. 

